Started this one some weeks back and have spent most of that on the Brass work - man what a drag! Nearly finished of the sub-structure with only small bits left to do then it's on to the turret.

Thats really fine work,I just cannot deal with that small brass,my hats off.Keep it up.

Great job on all that brass . Looks like you put the lift hooks on either side of the drivers compartment upside down ...Dragon's instructions strike again ?

Oh Dear - thanks for that - i'll need to fix that

Well the sub-structure is now done and primed (still need to fix the lifting hooks just before paint) so this can now be put aside while I tackle the turret.

very nice - qq - the tow rope, is that the kit or do you have some nice, cheap, AM alternative (have heard OOK wire etc but...)

Thank you again all for commenting. I have progressed quite well on the turret (very little PE) and I am not going to go nuts on interior detail because it'll only be the commanders hatch that'll be open, so I am concentrating only on detail that can be seen...

Got a bit of colour on it now and it's starting to look like a German tank...

I just broke the same kit out, last night. Decided to do it oob. You seem to be a few steps beyond me.

Started on weathering the sub-structure first as always and i'm about 90% done. Next will be some detail painting then blend the weathering up the sides and onto the super-structure...

Almost finished now, just a last gloss coat with some final washing with various colours, then a final matt coat and touch up with pastels, and then it's on to the wheels and tracks....

It's looking really good... just don't forget to reverse those lifting hooks before you go much further.

Really nice work... how do you do you colour modulation? Something I still struggle with unfortunately

Nice clean build so far. That large grey area on the back is screaming out for some stowage to break up all the monotone colour and add somelife.

Hi Guys and thanks for looking and commenting.

Bob - I'm going to leave the hooks as they are, it's just not worth the effort now but I have that bit of info filed away for future use - thanks mate.

Robert - I did a pretty in depth blog on weathering somewhere, i'll try and dig it up and send you the link.

Frank - no stowage i'm afraid, i like my models clean, I don't even use mud and stuff, my take on it is to show the vehicle and all it's lines - this will be the first time I leave a hatch open

Well the chassis is done so it's on to the wheels and tracks

Wow... very very nice. I hope once I get back in the groove of things, I can do half as good as you have done so far.

Thanks for sharing, your build is coming along great!

I too love my AFV's to show the clean lines as they appeared when they were new and in their glory.

RR

Work has kept me away from the bench for far too long but I have now got the wheels on and have dry fit the tracks....

Nice work!!

What is the device on the muffler...the thing with the chains hanging of it?

@Geoff; VERY nice! I keep admiring the Dragon Panzer IV C kit when I see it crawl past on the evilbay - and keep not getting it (I use as a not wholly-irrational excuse the fact that I already have about 300 kits... mostly Dragons and such and also that I have several things already in progress )! YOU have done a quite nice job on it.

I'm guessing (you may have stated this somewhere prior, but I haven't looked closely, so if you did... my apologies) that you are aiming at a repainted C from post - June 1940, on account of the all-dunkelgrau scheme. In any case, your "all gray" job came out fine. The build is pretty inspirational!

There is something which struck me as slightly odd; why is it that you have that radio-antenna trough in wood brown? Yes, it was indeed wood (and maybe even actually carved out of a single piece - perhaps some village craftsman contract!) , and, far as I know, always painted the prevailing hull color!

@OrangeL...

That box over the muffler is a smoke-bomb holder. These were standard features on all earlier German tanks - a device which typically held 5 bombs that could be dropped by the crew from inside when the wanted a cloud to hide under. The chains are supposed to attach to the box and to the bomb - the bomb drops from the box, igniting as it goes by a friction-match, and hangs from the chain as it blasts smoke. This early-war device was replaced by the smoke-grenade launchers seen on tank turrets later on, and used to this day on modern tanks.

Bob

Hi Bob,
Thanks for comments - not sure if it was a re-paint but this particular vehicle was from the 8th Pz Div in the area around Dunaburg which was in July just after their transfer from the Balkans. I have seen a few pictures of various regiments of the division during this time (not specifically the 8th which this vehicle was from) and they were all in Panzergrau so i feel quite comfortable with this one in that colour.

Being wood, I would have to assume the aerial box would have been replaced quite a few times on a combat vehicle in it's life time and my guess would have to be that not too much time would have been spent on painting them each time they were replaced (bit of artistic license)